So how has your Weber carb been? Are you still using the mechanical fuel pump? I noticed you have a fuel regulator.

After some road trip issues I'm done with my factory carb and all of its vacuum hoses. I've been looking at JZcelica's thread of your car and want to do essentially the same thing. I really enjoy driving it, just want it to be predictable and reliable. Thanks!

jzcelica added an electric fuel pump when he cleaned out the tank. The Weber runs very well, though would probably benefit from a quick tune. This fuel pump/Weber combo is great for start-ups. It's always cranked on the first turn, even after sitting for a couple weeks. I mostly just poodle around town as it's on antique plates, but the setup seems very solid, with tractable power at first and nice cruising behavior (especially with the 5-speed, which I highly recommend). I do tend to get a bit of fuel smell in the cabin, but I'm betting that's from the rusted-out exhaust.

Gave her a wash yesterday then tried my shitty Walmart buffer, but the paint just stayed dull as ever (though it did look great until it fully dried). Only way I've got it to respond is hand polishing with cloth and compound. That's going to take a loooong time...

Been working hard on the paint. The paint is old (not the original paint, but very old), and is total shit. The clear's been gone for a while, it's rough to the touch and full of dirt. But I love to color to death and I think I can save it.

Last week I washed it and tried my shitty Walmart buffer, got nowhere. This weekend I've been using good old elbow grease and been hand polishing it. So far, I've just used some compound and clay bar with microfiber towels. Here are the first results on the roof:

As you can see, it's responding really well. I'll keep going over the whole car and then hit it with polish and wax. I've never really messed with this stuff before, but it's pretty rewarding. Now, to go rest my poor arms...

So, what had happend was I accidentally found myself with six cars again in December. As my homeowner's asscoiation can bearly deal with my Cressida being outside, I had to use some clutch problem solving to keep three cars in a two car garage. Ended up throwing the Mark II and Miata on dollies and pushing them against the wall to make space for zee German interloper. When I sell this house, I'll be sure to mention the three car garage...

It was supposed to be a temporary arrangement, but my lazy ass only just sold the Bimmer Saturday.

Anyway, it's back to working on the wagon now that I can actually get to it again. I keep all my projects on battery tenders, and damn if the Mark II literally started on the first crank. Love Toyotas!

First order of business was to get it off of the dollies. Check that suspension droop!

During the hibernation, its antique plate expired, so this morning I went down to the tax office to renew it ($61 for five years, score!) and applied to use year of manufacture plates. So much better than the godawful standard antique plate with a buggy on it!

So yeah, excited to get back on the road with this thing.

Next steps are kinda fluid at this point. I've got some headlight mods to install and I have a whole new taillight set I'm going to clean up and paint. There's nothing mechanically wrong with it now, so I'm just going to keep working on the paint, finding small projects to work on, bolt on some cool old school stuff, and most importantly drive.

Now that she's legal again, I took her out for a shakedown run this evening. Everything seems to be running nicely, though it stumbles a bit with sharp application of the throttle. Carb probably needs a tune.

Also, driving a loud, low car with one 1973 licence plate and no inspection sticker (legally, mind you) has me looking for cops enough, so not having a working speedo is really not working out for me. Now, to read up on fixing that...

Car is still running great. Always starts on the first crank, doesn't overheat even in this insane Texas heat (without A/C, I'd overheat well before she would). I threw on the front plate, as it probably cuts down my chances of getting pulled over (in Texas, antique cars don't have to run inspection/reg stickers in the windscreen like normal cars, so I look a little sketchy from the front without a plate as well). Had to create some brackets for it to fit. I actually like how it looks, as the license plate dimples are very visible with the plate off. Plus, old school plates just look cool.

Still have some polishing to do, I really should get an exhaust fabbed, got a few badges and trim items to fit, really should source an un-cracked repeater and new rear window rubber, using an iPhone for the speedometer is not exactly optimal, the stock one-speaker radio could use an update, and I have a set of yellow hi-beams I might through on. But in general there's not too much to do right now .

Thinking about selling some other cars and/or saving up to really focus on this one and source some proper wheels. Maybe a full resray and a 1UZ way down the line? Only time will tell.